A state where those with terminal illnesses who wish to end their own lives can do so with the assistance of government.

Neighbourhoods with blossoming networks of bike paths and an army of satisfied tenants on secure long-term leases, who no longer have to suffer the indignity of hiding their cats and dogs from the landlord.

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Melburnians partied into the night outside Trades Hall after the ''yes'' vote prevailed.Credit:AAP

And, just to top it all off, a theatre district with the latest blockbuster musicals from Broadway and the West End playing year round.

This mythical place is no Emerald City. Oh, no. It's Melbourne of the very near future, basking in the new Victorian age of enlightenment.

Sunny Sydneysiders might consider themselves much more open-minded and free thinking than their archetypal black-clad Melbourne cousins. But taking the political temperature of the two states shows that supposedly dour Victorians are loosening their corsets and becoming much more progressive.

It's not just relief from Sydney's eye-wateringly expensive property prices that is drawing its residents over the border.

To some, the political power plays in Victoria of late may not seem unusual, but cross the Murray River and the winds of change stand still.

Take the surprisingly divergent results announced this week from the same-sex marriage postal plebiscite, which surely must have come as a shock for a city that so proudly nails its rainbow colours to the mast.

NSW posted the lowest "yes" vote – 57.8 per cent – of any state or territory in the survey.

Seventeen electorates in Sydney – the city that has so famously hosted Australia's legendary Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for nigh on 40 years – said "no". All but one of those electorates, clustered around the city's western suburbs, is a Labor seat.

More than 1.1 million voters across Sydney voted against changing Australia's marriage laws. Let that sink in for a moment.

Victorians voted much more strongly in favour of same-sex marriage, with 64.9 per cent saying "yes" (bettered only by ACT with a thumping 74 per cent of respondents voting in the affirmative). Just two Victorian electorates voted "no".

Our views on euthanasia are poles apart, too. As Victoria's Parliament pulled its second all-nighter while debating the assisted dying bill – the passage of which is looking increasingly likely – similar legislation was defeated in the NSW upper house on Thursday night.

And if this weekend's Northcote byelection is any indication, progressive policies are set to become only more entrenched in Melbourne.

The byelection campaign has become a race between Labor and the Greens as to who can announce the grooviest policy.

Even the newly named Reason Party – formerly the far more fun-sounding Australian Sex Party – appears to be having an influence on some Labor policies, particularly on safe injecting rooms (something, admittedly, Sydney did achieve first).

As they leave their relatively affordable rental share houses on their way to savour a vegan democracy sausage at the polling booths on Saturday, the voters of Melbourne's inner-north could be forgiven for expressing a smug sense of satisfaction.